Chapter 8After the crash

by E.Escher - 29th Dec 2016

Lacking any better ideas, Colin headed home.

The police would have his face by now, but he didn't own any ID with a photo, so they wouldn't find it easy to get his name. Instead they'd have to check through old CCTV recordings to find a match, and then go around all the places he'd been with a photo, asking 'have you seen this man?'

They might also have his face on the news, him and Brian, asking the public to phone in with information. The bank might offer a reward, although that seemed unlikely; the robbery had only netted a few thousand, at most. Compared to the dozens of robberies a city could expect in a week, theirs was only newsworthy because of the casual, slipshod way they carried it out.

He cursed Brian once again, under his breath. What had he been thinking? What was the plan? He'd promised to explain everything, and Colin planned to wring that explanation out of him as soon as he figured out a plan of his own.

He could cut his hair, or grow a beard, or both. He hoped this was one of those occasions where his curse could help. People tended not to notice him if he didn't do anything to attract their attention, so the number of people calling in to report him would presumably be low.

Brian, meanwhile, had quite distinctive features, but people would probably file him under 'ugly skinhead' and not give him a second glance. It was better to avoid eye contact with some people.

Colin considered leaving the country. He had no passport, but there were always other ways to get off an island, especially if exposure and starvation weren't a consideration. He could simply paddle a rubber dinghy over to Ireland, or even France. Probably not France, though. He still held a grudge against Louis XV for their part in the Seven Years War, back in 1756.

What was Brian going to do? He had his job doing whatever-it-was for the government, surely they had his photo on file somewhere.

Colin turned his face away from the street as a bus pulled up alongside and disgorged a bunch of teenagers. Teens these days always got the news before anybody else, streamed directly to their phones and shared like a hive mind. They gave him the creeps.

He took a shortcut through a housing estate, hoping the winding passage kept going in the right direction. He was a good hour away from his house, at walking pace, but he had nothing better to do with his day. A good brisk walk certainly beat a day of doing nothing in front of the television, but he wasn't about to thank Brian for the diversion.

If leaving the country wasn't an option, he could simply lie low. His simple requirements were an advantage again, here. He could simply pick up a huge stack of his favourite books and go hide in a cave somewhere. Or perhaps a tent, or a caravan. Maybe one of those camper-van, mobile-home things. He could have a fridge then, maybe even some solar power. He had money, squirreled here and there in various small accounts, some hidden in boxes he'd buried around the country, some hidden in houses he still owned but didn't live in.

He had a place in stockport with an old air-raid shelter in the back garden. It had seemed an investment, having lived through both World Wars, and he supposed he could hide out there now if he felt like it, but he found he wasn't comfortable living underground. He knew there was only a few feet of soil above him, but once you were in there it felt like tons of rock, waiting to crush you to pulp the second you let down your guard, or you'd be trapped, and nobody would know you were down there, suffering unspeakable horrors in the dark...

No. He couldn't live in a cave, that was a stupid idea. The books would get damp, for starters, and there would inevitable be kids, or hikers, taking photos of the book-reading hermit, and then he'd be on the social media, and sooner or later somebody would put two and two together, and they'd come looking.

"Why did you do it, Mister Campbell?" they'd ask him, and he'd have no good answer. "What did you do with the money? What did you need it for?" they'd ask, and again, he'd have nothing useful to say.

Read the five chapters of Mike in onw sitting and enjoyed them SO much. TY! :)

18 Mar 18, 21:50

Mike L says:

I will be looking at the new stuff and i am sure i will like it. Hope u r well <3

18 Mar 18, 21:50

Mike L says:

Sorry i have not been checking in. I am always thinking about your website and your screations.

1 Oct 17, 09:02

E.E. says:

Another chapter up. More coming tomorrow.

29 Sep 17, 09:41

E.E. says:

Okay, here we go, something new: crossover fiction.

28 Sep 17, 07:42

E.E. says:

Ugh. Forced to update Skype to include the latest rubbishy unwanted nonsense.

19 Sep 17, 13:07

E.E. says:

Funny thing: while assembling his StormWolf model, Isegrim somehow managed to put one of the parts in his mouth and chew it up.

4 Sep 17, 07:16

E.E. says:

Thanks, Mike. I'll be posting up something soon.

13 Aug 17, 16:50

MikeL says:

So what i am saying is, you just do what you want, :) --- a supportive reader.

13 Aug 17, 16:50

MikeL says:

At the same time, Whateley websites are always being plagued by people who are rude and crude and uncomplimentary and even abusive of the authors. Famously, it is said that this is why Diane Castle left. And her stuff was awesome!

13 Aug 17, 16:48

MikeL says:

TY 4 your post. Don't feel bad about "Dawn". I bet DaVinci had a bunch of paintings in his attic he didn't try to sell because he thought they weren't up to snuff.

16 Jul 17, 17:26

E.E. says:

I'm still alive! The Dawn story got some bad feedback on the Whateley forum, so Ive backpedalled a bit. Working on something new.

3 Jul 17, 22:34

MikeL says:

Just want you to know i still think about you, about the characters in Verity's Ark, and hope things are going well for you.

21 May 17, 06:27

JimmiXzSq says:

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19 May 17, 13:28

MikeL says:

i should have said "hopefully in favor of nice real life stuff you like". <3 :)

19 May 17, 13:26

MikeL says:

I'm checking for updates/new chapters on Dawn. I know that you are winding down your web stuff hopefully in favor of real life. Lots of thanks and compliments and love.

2 May 17, 18:45

MikeL says:

Just wanted to say thank you for everything :)

20 Apr 17, 17:12

MikeL says:

I found more of Dawn on the Whateley site and enjoyed reading it very much :) ty!!

20 Apr 17, 02:02

MikeL says:

Read the first chapter of Dawn and the only criticism is it was too short! I was done reading it too soon. More, please. :) Most enjoyable!

5 Apr 17, 21:45

MikeL says:

You know how much I like the Whateley universe and how much i like your writing so "Dawn" is going to be, i am sure, the greatest mixture of two good things since peanut butter and jelly. Will be following it intently. :)

2 Apr 17, 16:58

Barnypok says:

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1 Apr 17, 23:11

Barnypok says:

OzTSBomPdAknOimOPT

11 Mar 17, 15:58

MikeL says:

And thank you. I feel honored that you give me clues and name me. :)

11 Mar 17, 15:55

MikeL says:

no more Verity's Ark. All good things must come to an end and V.A. was THE BEST!!!! Congrats on your writing. :) Love you.

6 Mar 17, 07:58

E.E. says:

And that's the end of my NaNoWriMo story.

11 Feb 17, 10:14

E.E. says:

Progress is good on the new story, but I don't want to give away too much. A clue for MikeL, though: the working title is 'Dawn'

9 Feb 17, 20:33

says:

1 Feb 17, 22:15

E.E. says:

Starting work today on a new story. More details will follow...

30 Jan 17, 01:19

MikeL says:

It has been a while since i visited this site and i just reread some of my old comments and i just want to apologize for being a bit of a nag. I won't bring up that story again. :(

30 Jan 17, 01:17

MikeL says:

Looking at the latest cartoon (featuring Miki) and marveling at the incredibly prolific writing, it makes me a little sad that we never got to read the ending of "Revenge of the Sunbeam." But it is nice that we get to read more EE stuff.